DesignThinkers Podcast
From the Association of Registered Graphic Designers, this is the DesignThinkers podcast. DesignThinkers is Canada's largest graphic design conference. Since the year 2000, the Association of Registered Graphic Designers has been bringing together visionaries from a range of disciplines to explore creativity and the design process live and on-stage. This podcast is an extension of that mission. We’re here to talk about process, creativity and the business of design with past and present DesignThinkers speakers. Join our host, Nicola Hamilton, for candid conversation with creative legends such as Erin Sarofsky, Michael Beirut, Paul Scher, Gail Anderson, Meg Lewis, Christopher Doyle, and...
Nadia Tzuo
This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Nadia Tzuo—an Emmy Award–winning motion designer and director whose title sequences have become cultural touchstones.
Nadia’s work spans television, film, and streaming, with credits on The Last of Us, Shogun, American Horror Story, Pachinko, Star Trek Beyond, and Captain Marvel. Her sequences don’t just introduce a story—they set its mood, build its world, and often become iconic in their own right.
In this episode, Nadia shares how she approaches title design as both storytelling and branding, the deep research that fuels her pr...
Stephen Gates
This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Stephen Gates—global design leader, keynote speaker, and host of The Crazy One podcast.
Stephen’s career has spanned more than 20 years leading creative teams at companies like Apple, Citi, InVision, and McCann, where he’s built award-winning work across branding, product design, and customer experience. Known for his candid, no-nonsense approach to leadership and creativity, Stephen now works with organizations and teams around the world—helping them unlock better ideas, build stronger cultures, and navigate the complex realities of design at scale.
In this episode, w...
Veronica Fuerte
This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Verònica Fuerte. Verònica is the founder and creative director of Hey Studio in Barcelona.
Since launching the studio in 2007, Verònica has built one of the most recognizable and beloved visual identities in contemporary design: known for bold color, geometric forms, and a relentlessly optimistic aesthetic. Hey’s work has spanned everything from brand systems and editorial design to public art and exhibitions, with clients like Apple, The New York Times, Monocle, and the city of Barcelona itself.
In this episode, Veronica shares how she...
Rachel Gogel
This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Rachel Gogel. Rachel is an independent creative executive shaping the future of design at the intersection of brand, culture, and technology.
After building multidisciplinary teams at places like GQ, The New York Times, Meta, and Godfrey Dadich, Rachel launched her own consultancy in 2020. Since then, she’s worked with everyone from tech giants like Airbnb and Dropbox to smaller purpose-driven, often women-founded ventures.
In this episode, we talk about what it means to lead creatively—without being full-time. Rachel walks us through the rise of fracti...
Kemp Attwood
This week on the DesignThinkers podcast, I’m joined by Kemp Attwood, partner at AREA 17. With a background in creative writing and new media design, Kemp has spent nearly two decades working at the intersection of design, strategy, and technology.
He has helped shape AREA 17’s global vision—leading interdisciplinary teams across Paris and New York to deliver transformative work for clients like The New York Times, Google, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the National Gallery of Canada.
In this episode, we dive into how design is more than just craft—how it becomes a system...
Introducing Season Three of the DesignThinkers Podcast, Coming August 6th
We’re back with a third season of the DesignThinkers Podcast.
DesignThinkers is Canada's largest graphic design conference. For twenty-five years, the Association of Registered Graphic Designers has been bringing together visionaries from a range of disciplines to explore creativity and the design process.
This podcast is an extension of that mission. We’re here to talk about process, creativity and the business of design with past and present DesignThinkers speakers. Join me, Nicola Hamilton, for another season of candid conversation with design leaders from all over the world. This season, I have plans to catch...
Adam JK on Embracing Imperfection
This is our last episode of the season—and what a high to go out on! Adam JK is a Toronto-born, Honolulu-based artist whose illustrative work is rooted in honesty, humour and a little bit of darkness. His books and journals, including Things Are What You Make of Them, have sold over a million copies in 20 languages worldwide. Obsessed with aphorisms and ephemera, Adam's work seeks to craft new reminders from familiar sources, offering his brand of "back-handed optimism" as a token of encouragement and camaraderie for other creative, emotional and deeply human people. Our conversation takes us to al...
Eva Cremers on Finding Your Own Way
This week, I’m sharing my conversation with Eva Cremers. Eva might be a new name for our DesignThinkers audience! She’s a 3-D artist and animation director from The Netherlands. Eva blends her playful, graphic CGI style with her own graphic design sensibility to create charming, joyful worlds for a growing list of global clients including H&M, Meta, Amazon Music, Apple and Samsung. In this episode, Eva tells me how she sort of fell into 3-D animation as she familiarized herself with Cinema 4D in preparation for her first internship. She shares the ways her developing skill set...
Vincent Wanga on Audacious Creative Leadership
This week, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you, our DesignThinkers audience to Vincent Wanga. Vince is new to the DesignThinkers universe. He’ll be joining us on stage in Vancouver next month to talk about creative audacity. Vince is one of those multi-hyphenates—In this episode, we joke that “I do a lot of things” is our shared tagline. He runs a couple of different businesses and has his hands in a myriad of projects. For the purposes of our conversation, Vince is a design leader, a serial entrepreneur and brand consultant. As former VP and head of creat...
Catalina Estrada on Creating for Change
This week, I’m sharing my conversation with Catalina Estrada. Catalina is a Colombian illustrator now based in Barcelona. She reinterprets Latin American folklore and expertly documents the natural world in her stunning, and extremely colourful, artwork and patterns. Catalina has worked for major brands like Disney, Netflix and Coca-Cola but she’s also done heaps of self-initiated work for a host of global causes. In this episode we talk about her transition from design into illustration—a story that’s full of childlike curiosity and moments of kismet—and the ways her signature style has evolved over the years. My...
Carson Ting on Making Career Moves
This week’s guest is illustrator, art director and fine artist Carson Ting. Carson kicked off his career in Toronto before moving across the country for a dream job at Rethink. Today, Carson is best known as an artist and founder of Chairman Ting. He’s a bit of a legend in Vancouver, where his murals are plentiful and on occasion span entire city blocks. I’m catching up with Carson on the heels of a career reset. While Chairman Ting isn’t going anywhere, he’s doubling down on his fine art practice. We talk about his transition from adver...
Eleni Beveratou on the Intricacies of Type
In this week’s episode, I’m catching up with typeface designer Eleni Beveratou. While working toward her MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, she developed an interest in the science of reading for the partially sighted. Her research and findings were published in Digital Fonts and Reading by World Scientific. Today, Eleni works at Dalton Maag, an independent type foundry in London, England. Eleni has worked on projects with brands such as Airbnb, Oracle and Facebook. I’m always excited to geek out with Eleni! Her knowledge base is deep and she’s incredibly skilled at expla...
Meg Lewis on Leveraging Your Quirks
In this episode, I'm zooming into The Meg Lewis Fun House! Meg is an artist, performer and educator transforming the world through joy and playful design. Their bold designs burst with colour, bringing an explosion of energy to brands like Dropbox, Meta, Target and Pinterest. With a background in design, improv, clown, music and stage combat, Meg creates uniquely playful experiences through workshops and talks that spark laughter and inspiration. Meg guides both corporations and individuals to reshape how they work and create, inspiring audiences to tackle life's biggest questions through joy, creative exploration and career strategy. This conversation...
Introducing Season Two of the DesignThinkers Podcast, Coming March 26th
We’re back and so excited to bring you a second season of the DesignThinkers Podcast!
DesignThinkers is Canada's largest graphic design conference. Since the year 2000, the Association of Registered Graphic Designers has been bringing together visionaries from a range of disciplines to explore creativity and the design process live and on-stage.
This podcast is an extension of that mission. We’re here to talk about process, creativity and the business of design with past and present DesignThinkers speakers. Join me, Nicola Hamilton, for a season of candid conversation with creative legends like Meg Lewis, Carson...
Christopher Doyle
This week's guest is Christoper Doyle. With over 22 years of experience, Christopher has established himself as one of Australia’s leading brand and design talents. Based in Sydney, his independent studio, Christopher Doyle & Co., is celebrated for its sharp approach to visual identity, creative direction, campaigns, and digital design. Known for blending curiosity and beauty in his work, Christopher collaborates across disciplines to deliver award-winning designs for clients in music, architecture, film, and the visual arts. We caught up with Christopher for a live recording ahead of his DesignThinkers presentation. We talk about his best and worst projects to da...
Howard Poon RGD
Every year, RGD asks a different Canadian design studio or agency to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ve been speaking with some of our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. My guest this week is Howard Poon, VP of Design at DDB Edmonton. In 2022, Howard and the team at DDB Edmonton tackled the conference identity for our triumphant return to in-person conferences. The execution was a restrained approach packed with iconography. In this episode, Howard and I go back in time to discuss the process that got them there.
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Min Lew
My guest this week is Partner, Executive Creative Director & Managing Director at BaseNYC. Min Lew was born in Germany, raised in Seoul, and now lives in Brooklyn. Min brings 20 years of experience across culture, technology, luxury, fashion, and more. Her impressive portfolio includes collaborations with clients like Apple, The New York Times, JFK T4 Terminal and MoMA. In this episode we talk about Min's path into design, how to move up the ladder within agency environments and what Min looks for in solid client relationships. Plus, Min lays out some advice for emerging designers.
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Greg Hoffman
Our guest this week is a global brand leader. Greg Hoffman is the former Chief Marketing Officer at Nike. For 28 years, Greg held marketing, design, and innovation leadership positions at Nike. His role in the rise of marketing and design through that period was recognized when Fast Company named him one of the Most Creative People in Business. Today his primary role is as founder and principal of the brand leadership platform, Modern Arena. In that position Greg advises Fortune 500 brands, startups, and nonprofits about creating brand strength, business growth, and social impact. He engages teams ranging from Apple...
Laura Stein RGD
Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ve been speaking with some of our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. My guest this week is Partner and Chief Creative Officer at BMD, Laura Stein. In this episode, I’m asking Laura to go back in time to 2020. Bruce Mau Design was our Design Partner in 2021, which meant they were working through the conference branding in the depths of a global pandemic—and the myriad of other crises we experienced during that time. What came out of their proces...
Gail Anderson
Getting to chat with Gail Anderson is a dream. Gail is a designer, writer, and educator. And today, Gail Anderson is Chair of BFA Design and BFA Advertising at the School of Visual Arts. She spent the first part of her career working in publishing: books and then stints at The Boston Globe Sunday and Rolling Stone. She went on to make poster art for Broadway and off-Broadway productions at SpotCo before starting her own small design firm, Anderson Newton Design. She’s also one of the most influential Black designers in the game. In this episode, we roll it...
Chip Kidd
My guest this week is graphic designer and writer Chip Kidd. At Alfred A. Knopf—where he has worked for over 38 years—Chip has designed thousands of book covers. A writer as well, Chip has authored two novels—‘The Cheese Monkeys’ and ‘The Learners’, both national bestsellers. His bio also includes lines like: He was an extra in ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker’ and an answer on Jeopardy in 2002. In this episode, we talk at length about designing book covers. We get into why Chip got into books in the first place, what his process looks like and all the trends he’...
Bonus Episode: Mo Bofill RGD
Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ve been speaking with some of our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. My guest this week is Mo Bofill. Mo is currently a Partner and Executive Creative Director of Design at 123w. In this episode, I’m asking Mo to reflect back on her experience as Executive Design Director at john st where she helped lead the DesignThinkers branding in the chaotic year that was 2020.
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Grace Hwang
My guest this week is Grace Hwang. Up until very recently, Grace was working at Microsoft as Partner Director of Device Research + Design. That role encompassed Device Design, Mixed Reality hardware and software, Accessibility, and Sustainability. She believes in the power of human-centered design to cultivate positive change in people, systems, and society—and she brought that belief to that role. In this conversation, we talk about our responsibility as designers, the future of computing, and the ways we bring our own behaviours into our work.
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Brian Collins
Brian Collins has presented memorable DesignThinkers talks dating back as far as 2006. Brian is a designer and co-founder of COLLINS, the business transformation company based in San Francisco and New York City. Brian co-founded COLLINS with Leland Maschmeyer in 2008 with a focus not on what they would make, but what they would make possible through design. In this episode, we talk about some of his past presentations, the importance of language in our work and we riff on the idea of risk taking.
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Bonus Episode: Jonathon Yule & Thomas van Ryzewyk
Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ve been speaking with some of our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. In this episode, I catch up with Jonathon Yule and Thomas van Ryzewyk. Both Jonathon and Tom work at Concrete here in Toronto. Jonathon functions as their Director of Design and Tom as Creative Director. Together, they lead branding for DesignThinkers in 2019. We revisit that process—and yes, I ask them about the toonie.
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Robert Wong
This week's guest is Robert Wong. Robert was born Chinese, grew up Dutch, was Canadian, and is now American. While studying to become an accountant in Toronto, Robert woke up one day, flew to New York, and became a graphic designer instead. Robert is best known for his time leading design at Starbucks and as one of the co-founders of Google Creative Lab, where he still works. In this episode, we retrace his steps to becoming a designer, we discuss how the Google Creative Lab operates, and we dive into how he's thinking about AI.
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Jennifer Kinon
This week's guest is Jennifer Kinon. Jennifer founded Champions Design with Bobby C. Martin, Jr in 2010. Today, Jennifer leads business, design and strategy at Champions. For more than a decade, the firm has crafted meaningful brand strategy and visual identity systems for some of the world’s best brands. At every point in her career, Jennifer has tackled big systems. She served as Design Director of Hillary for America in 2016, Design Director of New York City’s 2012 Olympic Bid and worked in Pentagram’s New York City office with Michael Bierut. In this conversation, we start with the early parts...
Bonus Episode: Michael Romaniuk
Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ll be speaking with some of those folks—our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. In this episode, I catch up with Michael Romaniuk. Today, Michael is an Associate Creative Director at Zulu Alpha Kilo. After leaving pre-med in 2018, he executed a surprising direct mail stunt disguised as a FedEx delivery man. He was hired on the spot by Zulu Alpha Kilo and briefed within half an hour. That first brief? It was DesignThinkers. Listen in as Michael recounts that expe...
Liza Enebeis
This week's guest is Liza Enebeis, Partner and Creative Director at Studio Dumbar/DEPT®. Studio Dumbar is an award winning international agency with Dutch heritage. They specialize in visual branding and motion and Liza is directly involved in all their main projects. Liza also co-founded and co-hosts Typeradio.org, a podcast on type and design, and co-initiator of the Design in Motion Festival, also known as DEMO. In this episode we talk about her early career and the value of a little discomfort in our process. She also spills the beans on DEMO 2025, which will happen in January. There w...
Michael Johnson
This week's guest is Michael Johnson. Michael set up Johnson Banks in 1992, after a decade learning design, branding and art direction across the globe. His company is known for how they define, then design, brands that make a difference. ‘Do great work for good people’ is their mantra. He’s produced an enviable portfolio of work and received countless awards, including D&AD’s highest honour, the President’s Award in 2017. In this episode, we talk about starting and sustaining a design business, the value of strategy in our practice, and the criticism the internet lobs at rebrand projects.
F...
Bonus Episode: Hans Thiessen RGD
Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ll be speaking with some of those folks—our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. In this episode, I catch up with Hans Thiessen RGD. Hans leads the design team at Rethink—an agency that’s been named AdAge’s Creative Agency of the Year, one of Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative Creative Agencies, and Strategy's Creative & Design Agency of the Year five years in a row, and counting. Rethink was our DesignThinkers Design Partner in 2017 and Hans was on the team...
Jessica Hische
This week's guest is Oakland-based designer, lettering artist and NYT best-selling author, Jessica Hische. If you're a child of the internet, you're probably already familiar with Jessica's work. She kicked off her career working at Headcase Design and later as a senior designer working under the great Louise Fili. In 2009, Jessica stepped out on her own as a freelancer. You might remember her Daily Drop Cap project—or more recently, you've likely seen her tidying up some of your favourite wordmarks. In this episode, we look back at Jessica's early days as a creative, the process of reclaiming artist as...
Khoi Vinh
Khoi Vinh is a Senior Director of Design at Adobe. He’s been a leading figure in the design community for more than two decades. He has led design teams at large companies and startups across the industry. I first sat down with Khoi during our pandemic-era, Virtual DesignThinkers conference. We had a pretty in-depth conversation about the intersection of design and technology. (If you're an RGD Member, you can access that conversation at rgd.ca.) But in this episode, we’re diving right in artificial intelligence. We talk about all the wonderful ways AI and machine learning are acce...
Bonus Episode: Tina Mackenzie RGD Emeritus
Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ll be speaking with some of those folks—our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. In this episode, I catch up with Tina Mackenzie RGD Emeritus. Tina is a very accomplished graphic design manager. In 2012, the award winning in-house graphic design team at the City of Mississauga—which Tina was leading—was invited to be the first ever, in-house group to design DesignThinkers. Listen in as we talk a bit about the importance of that moment both internally and within the indu...
Debbie Millman
This week’s guest has been named “one of the most creative people in business” by Fast Company, “one of the most influential designers working today” by GDUSA, and a “Woman of Influence” by Success magazine. It’s author, educator, curator and podcast pioneer, Debbie Millman. I first interviewed Debbie in 2020 as part of our pandemic-era, Virtual DesignThinkers, where we talked at length about Debbie's professional history. (If you're an RGD Member, you can access that conversation at rgd.ca.) But in this episode, we’re talking about how Debbies splits her time between hosting Design Matters, one of the first and long...
Karin Fong
Karin Fong is an Emmy award-winning director and designer. She’s a founding member of Imaginary Forces, where she works at the intersection of live-action, design, and animation. If you’ve watched shows like Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Little Fires Everywhere, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, or feature films like Spider-Man: No Way Home or Slumberland—you’ve encountered Karin’s work. She’s also helmed spots for major brands, including LEGO, Lexus, Target, Google, PlayStation, and Herman Miller. At the root of it all, Karin is a visual storyteller and in this episode, we talk about all the ways the f...
Bonus Episode: Dominic Ayre RGD
Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ll be speaking with some of those folks—our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. In this episode, I sit down with Dominic Ayre RGD. Dominic is the Creative Director at Hambly & Woolley, who worked on the conference identity in 2009. Dominic also plays a big role in helping RGD identify DesignThinkers speakers each year, so you’ll hear a little bit about that process too.
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Steven Heller
This week’s guest is Steven Heller. Steven is the co-chair and co-founder of the School of Visual Arts MFA Design program. He was a senior art director at the New York Times for 33 years. He is the author or co-author of 200 books, mostly on design and pop culture, and has been contributing editor to PRINT, BASELINE, EYE and other design magazines. You'd know his writing best under the slug The Daily Heller at printmag.com. In this episode, we talk about how he got started, how he’s seen the industry change, and the value of chronicling things to b...
Erin Sarofsky
This week’s guest is Erin Sarofsky. Erin is an internationally heralded creative, regularly chosen by brand and entertainment titans to lead their most artful storytelling projects. Erin launched Sarofsky Corp in 2009, in Chicago’s West Loop. The firm has forged long standing relationships in the advertising and entertainment industries, but they’re best known for their main title sequences for movies like: “Peacemaker,” “The Staircase”, “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “We Were the Lucky Ones,” “Guardians of the Galaxy” and, of course, “Community.” In this episode, Erin and I talk about the challenges of bouncing between our creative and business brains. We spend a...
Bonus Episode: Mikey Richardson RGD & Mike Kelar RGD
Each year, RGD asks a different Canadian design agency or studio to tackle the conference identity. In these shorter episodes, I’ll be speaking with some of those folks—our past DesignThinkers Design Partners. In this episode, I chat with Mike Kelar and Mikey Richardson. Their titles are both Co-Founder and Co-ECD at Jacknife. In 2008, the year they were our Design Partner, Mike and Mikey were working as AmoebaCorp. They took a very hands-on approach to the work but I’ll let them tell you more.
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